18-01-2019
Friedi Schmuck
How come a pizza with a dough with Tyrolese spices, topped with mountain cheese, craft speck, graukäse and Gewurztraminer gelatine, is in the menu – or actually among the specials, presented in an event in Torino with Massimiliano Prete and Gabriele Bonci – of a Sicilian pizzeria?
Let’s step back: Friederick Schmuck was born 40 years ago in Rome. However, as you can easily tell by his name his father and grandfather were originally from Bressanone and he spent every childhood holiday in the shades of the Dolomites. Then, at 11, he moved to the island where his mother was born, to Siracusa. «I was raised in Rome, at Olgiata; I played with my friends outside, and consider myself a Roman. But I have a very strong connection with Alto Adige and its flavours, especially now that my father is no longer with us», he says. For many years now, however, his home has been in Ortigia.
Friedi returned to Rome for a few months, and attended the Api courses held by Angelo Iezzi and Massimiliano Bacich. His initialplan, however, was to take care of the dining room. When his pizzaiolo left, though, he had to put his fingers in the pie. Meanwhile, finding out about Molino Quaglia and attending the courses at the Scuola del Molino opened his horizons with regards to leavening and flour: «It was a turning point. From that moment on, I was totally captured by my passion for pizza. Who would have imagined I’d spend days on end in the pizzeria taking care of leavenings and dough. I can’t help it!».
Piano B Via Cairoli 18, Siracusa tel. +39 0931 66851
Translated into English by Slawka Scarso
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a journalist born in Naples now living in Rome, she tries to make her three passions meet: eating, travelling and writing